Auburn #1 :First Time Ever

[yngwie1995 2,227]

6 hours ago, JTFazz said:

Newell had Gonzaga number one since the first preseason poll. Not sure which poll site you used for this, but wanted to provide this link to Poll Tracker for others. It is a handy tool and there is also a football version. https://collegepolltracker.com/

That was the AP Poll, the week that Auburn became #1.

I wasn't complaining about Gonzaga (although, their schedule is weak). I was complaining about having Auburn #5, and the week before he had Auburn at #9, despite Auburn beating bama AT HOME (Gonzaga lost to bama at a neutral site).

[Cardin Drake 1,808]

It's not like I particularly care about computer rankings or any rankings at this point. It's all about the NCAA tournament now, and while it would be nice to go in as the #1 overall seed, it's not that much of an advantage. And we pretty much have #1 sewn up if we win out.

Still, I have to wonder what kind of moron pills some of these programmers are on.  Look at the RPI this week. We drop kicked Bama into next week and Kansas got destroyed at home against Kentucky. Yet somehow Kansas passed us to become #1 in RPI. To make it even more bizarre, RPI has Alabama at 5 AFTER losing to us and Kentucky at 18 AFTER beating Kansas. Either that's the most moronic algorithm in computer programming history, or they flat out made a mistake.  I just don't see how it is possible for us to beat #5 and Kansas to lose to #18, yet we fall in the ranking and they rise.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/rankings/rpi/

Edited February 2, 2022 by Cardin Drake

[JTFazz 386]

21 hours ago, yngwie1995 said:

That was the AP Poll, the week that Auburn became #1.

I wasn't complaining about Gonzaga (although, their schedule is weak). I was complaining about having Auburn #5, and the week before he had Auburn at #9, despite Auburn beating bama AT HOME (Gonzaga lost to bama at a neutral site).

I guess my point is If he ranked Auburn any higher and Gonzaga any lower, the Zags could fall to three or four and he has been on the Zags bus since day one.

[arein0 946]

1 hour ago, Cardin Drake said:

It's not like I particularly care about computer rankings or any rankings at this point. It's all about the NCAA tournament now, and while it would be nice to go in as the #1 overall seed, it's not that much of an advantage. And we pretty much have #1 sewn up if we win out.

Still, I have to wonder what kind of moron pills some of these programmers are on.  Look at the RPI this week. We drop kicked Bama into next week and Kansas got destroyed at home against Kentucky. Yet somehow Kansas passed us to become #1 in RPI. To make it even more bizarre, RPI has Alabama at 5 AFTER losing to us and Kentucky at 18 AFTER beating Kansas. Either that's the most moronic algorithm in computer programming history, or they flat out made a mistake.  I just don't see how it is possible for us to beat #5 and Kansas to lose to #18, yet we fall in the ranking and they rise.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/rankings/rpi/

RPI is only dependent on Your Win %, Your Opponents Win %, and Your Opponents Opponent Win %. It doesnt take into account win differential. So RPI views beating Bama by 1 as the same as beating Bama by 30.

Edited February 2, 2022 by arein0
Spelling

[Hopsing 572]

3 hours ago, arein0 said:

RPI is only dependent on Your Win %, Your Opponents Win %, and Your Opponents Opponent Win %. It doesnt take into account win differential. So RPI views beating Bama by 1 as the same as beating Bama by 30.

Yeah but beating turds by18 sure feels better than winning by1!

[arein0 946]

2 hours ago, Hopsing said:

Yeah but beating turds by18 sure feels better than winning by1!

I agree 100%. I was just explaining how RPI works

[Hopsing 572]

2 minutes ago, arein0 said:

I agree 100%. I was just explaining how RPI works

I understand. I was just reinforcing the arse whipping we put on them. You have my full support! 

[LKEEL75 2,566]

Well so much for the #1 spot....  

 

[AUinMS9528 1,086]

Only fell to #2.  Still quite impressive!!!

Good to see Arky and one other unnamed SEC school climb into the top 25 this week. We’ve got 2 top 5 teams and 5 top 25 teams in our league!

[tgrogan21 6,198]

Happy we only fell to #2 but here's some stuff for you all to laugh at:

 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,641]

This is probably a disproportionately good year for the WCC, but they do have 3 legit good teams aside from Zaga. 
 

the best B12, B10 and SEC teams had to endure substantially more but I don’t think they’ve played a bad schedule tbh.

[jared52 4,354]

3 hours ago, LKEEL75 said:

Well so much for the #1 spot....  

 

Just think of it as, "This is the first time in history that AU has dropped from the #1 spot."

[tgrogan21 6,198]

12 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

This is probably a disproportionately good year for the WCC, but they do have 3 legit good teams aside from Zaga. 
 

the best B12, B10 and SEC teams had to endure substantially more but I don’t think they’ve played a bad schedule tbh.

Compared to other WCC teams their schedule is great. Compared to other top 5 teams their schedule is garbage. They are 9-2 in Q1-Q3 games with only 3 road games and have 12 Quad 4 wins. They beat up on weak teams and only have to get up for 1 to 2 games a month. IMO, they should be 4th and that's being generous.

 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,641]

36 minutes ago, tgrogan21 said:

Compared to other WCC teams their schedule is great. Compared to other top 5 teams their schedule is garbage. They are 9-2 in Q1-Q3 games with only 3 road games and have 12 Quad 4 wins. They beat up on weak teams and only have to get up for 1 to 2 games a month. IMO, they should be 4th and that's being generous.

 

I wouldn’t have them ranked lowly based on the schedule, bc that eliminates a lot of other mid majors from having a chance at being ranked. Eye test and subjectivity have to be taken more into account with this sport. And with how little the actual poll matters, it’s not something I’d want to punish a broad swathe of teams for. You “punish” Gonzaga in the AP, they’ll still be a top 1 seed, but St Bonaventure or Saint Mary’s adore having that number by their name. 
 

I’m fine with GU being #1, if Auburn/UK, Purdue, and KU/Baylor won out from here, esp Auburn, they’ll have a strong chance at being the #1 overall seed over GU

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,641]

Kentucky is very close to GU in KenPom and has Alabama, Tenn, Ark, LSU and potentially Auburn on the docket 

I’d bet some green that they’re the #1 overall seed if they win out 

[tgrogan21 6,198]

8 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

I wouldn’t have them ranked lowly based on the schedule, bc that eliminates a lot of other mid majors from having a chance at being ranked. Eye test and subjectivity have to be taken more into account with this sport. And with how little the actual poll matters, it’s not something I’d want to punish a broad swathe of teams for. You “punish” Gonzaga in the AP, they’ll still be a top 1 seed, but St Bonaventure or Saint Mary’s adore having that number by their name. 
 

I’m fine with GU being #1, if Auburn/UK, Purdue, and KU/Baylor won out from here, esp Auburn, they’ll have a strong chance at being the #1 overall seed over GU

I think resume matters a lot because I'm not a huge fan of predictive rankings like Kenpom so I look at resume. I also don't think that I'm "punishing" Gonzaga since I still would have them in the top 5 and more than likely a 1 seed. I just don't think they're the #1 team, not with their resume. They can beat up on as many Q4 teams as they want but when you don't have to worry about being challenged every week it's a lot different. Hell they still only have 3 road games and the remaining road games will be against weak conference teams that aren't going to affect them.

Again, that's not saying Gonzaga is trash or that mid-majors shouldn't be ranked but when you have 3 other teams (Arizona, Auburn, and Kentucky) that have way better resume's with the same or close to the same amount of losses you have to bring up SOS.

 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,641]

2 minutes ago, tgrogan21 said:

I think resume matters a lot because I'm not a huge fan of predictive rankings like Kenpom so I look at resume. I also don't think that I'm "punishing" Gonzaga since I still would have them in the top 5 and more than likely a 1 seed. I just don't think they're the #1 team, not with their resume. They can beat up on as many Q4 teams as they want but when you don't have to worry about being challenged every week it's a lot different. Hell they still only have 3 road games and the remaining road games will be against weak conference teams that aren't going to affect them.

Again, that's not saying Gonzaga is trash or that mid-majors shouldn't be ranked but when you have 3 other teams (Arizona, Auburn, and Kentucky) that have way better resume's with the same or close to the same amount of losses you have to bring up SOS.

 

I also don’t think they should be the #1 overall seed, I just don’t have a problem with them being #1 in the AP. Maybe if the season ended right now they’d be the #1 overall seed, but March is where those other teams can make ground on them. Arizona is very close to them too metrically, they just play in a really meh conference this year, but all those other teams mentioned…they have a good chance to pass them up if they go on a streak 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,641]

I also think the AP Poll is displaying a level of faith that Auburn is a better team than Gonzaga and SOR matters. They’re within 80 points even after losing to an Arky that is worse than the Saint Mary’s Gonzaga beat (if you’re looking at NET). The pollsters factored in the overall body of work and the road venue to have the two teams that close, IMO

[AUFightingSoldiers 685]

Gonzaga is a really well coached team and they're active on the defensive end. With that said, they out talents every single team in their conference by a good bit. I truly believe that Auburn, Duke, Kentucky, Arizona, Purdue, and maybe Texas Tech and Illinois would win more often than not in a head-to-head matchup. Holmgren is a true threat and Timme has shown for few years now that he can be a big threat, but just taking Auburn as an example, from the limited exposure I've had to Gonzaga (including the game Saturday night) I think Timme would have a REALLY tough time bullying Kessler down low. I also believe a combo of Jabari and Kessler could make Holmgren's night harder than any other he has had so far this season due to their athleticism and length. Gonzaga is what I would consider a guaranteed sweet 16 team, but it could get interesting depending on who they draw. 

 

Edit: totally forgot they stomped Texas Tech earlier this year

Edited February 15, 2022 by AUFightingSoldiers

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,641]

2 hours ago, AUFightingSoldiers said:

Gonzaga is a really well coached team and they're active on the defensive end. With that said, they out talents every single team in their conference by a good bit. I truly believe that Auburn, Duke, Kentucky, Arizona, Purdue, and maybe Texas Tech and Illinois would win more often than not in a head-to-head matchup. Holmgren is a true threat and Timme has shown for few years now that he can be a big threat, but just taking Auburn as an example, from the limited exposure I've had to Gonzaga (including the game Saturday night) I think Timme would have a REALLY tough time bullying Kessler down low. I also believe a combo of Jabari and Kessler could make Holmgren's night harder than any other he has had so far this season due to their athleticism and length. Gonzaga is what I would consider a guaranteed sweet 16 team, but it could get interesting depending on who they draw. 

 

Edit: totally forgot they stomped Texas Tech earlier this year

They’re the epitome of styles make matchups. They’d murder someone like Kansas. But someone like Baylor, who even while being greatly worse than last season, might still possess an athletic advantage? I think I’d give BU a better chance than GU

The biggest gap Gonzaga showed me in the two losses is that they can be sped up in transition and that they don’t have great foot speed. Alabama’s guards were able to beat their guards pretty routinely and Duke is just the most athletic team in the sport (from what I’ve seen). Bama can also play on the perimeter 1-5 and that mitigates Timme a good bit. 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,641]

And the reason I’m always hesitant on throwing Auburn in that camp of teams that can beat them is that this Auburn team will often mitigate their own athletic adv against teams by playing dumb, bad basketball. 
 

and where Kessler should have an adv vs Timme is on those pick and rolls where his inches and length will get him where Drew can’t reach. But in those traditional post ups that Walker has been good at as of late, that’s where Drew excels at D. And that Walker PnR has been almost entirely removed by defenses in the past few games. 
Likewise, Jabari should (should bc Chet is a unicorn) be able to beat Holmgren to the rim, but as we’ve all seen, you don’t really get aggressive Jabari too too often. There’s way too many ifs that I think Auburn could figure out by that point, but haven’t yet (imo) 

[Butthead 525]

10 hours ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

And the reason I’m always hesitant on throwing Auburn in that camp of teams that can beat them is that this Auburn team will often mitigate their own athletic adv against teams by playing dumb, bad basketball. 
 

and where Kessler should have an adv vs Timme is on those pick and rolls where his inches and length will get him where Drew can’t reach. But in those traditional post ups that Walker has been good at as of late, that’s where Drew excels at D. And that Walker PnR has been almost entirely removed by defenses in the past few games. 
Likewise, Jabari should (should bc Chet is a unicorn) be able to beat Holmgren to the rim, but as we’ve all seen, you don’t really get aggressive Jabari too too often. There’s way too many ifs that I think Auburn could figure out by that point, but haven’t yet (imo) 

Amen.  As I said a while back, if Jabari could be 20% more aggressive and Kessler could be 20% meaner, this team would wreck everyone.  

[AlaskanFAN 1,665]

How about a 30+ win season.  Would be amazing for the program!!!!

[AUFightingSoldiers 685]

@Dual-Threat RigbyI disagree with exactly 0% of what you said about Auburn's potential problems with the Zags. I judt have 2 things coming in to play here.

1. After watching a lot of the top teams play throughout the season I truly believe we have the best defensive starting front court in the nation. On the offensive end Jabari's midrange game can be a back breaker. Right now my biggest concern would be a team lighting it up from 3, simply because I'm not sure we could match it on the other end. 

2. Orange and Blue glasses 😂

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,641]

2 hours ago, AUFightingSoldiers said:

@Dual-Threat RigbyI disagree with exactly 0% of what you said about Auburn's potential problems with the Zags. I judt have 2 things coming in to play here.

1. After watching a lot of the top teams play throughout the season I truly believe we have the best defensive starting front court in the nation. On the offensive end Jabari's midrange game can be a back breaker. Right now my biggest concern would be a team lighting it up from 3, simply because I'm not sure we could match it on the other end. 

2. Orange and Blue glasses 😂

There’s extended periods where I’d have to agree with you. Oscar and Walker are probably the two best centers I’ve seen on defense this season. Jabari looks really good against 4s and looks like a guy that can be a really good off ball defender on the next level. Flanigan is Flanigan and even our backups all fill in well for those 3.
 

I just think some guard matchups will maybe ask them to do too much in the PO and we’ll be in another foul extravaganza. Everyone looked better with Zep back out there, but I’ll contend that A&M isn’t the best offense ever. Our guards just looked really meh in those games without him. Wishing him well!